The longtime director of communications at Evangel University will take over as the assistant athletic director-media relations/marketing at Drury University, starting his duties June 14.

Beach has been in his role at Evangel since 2002, and he spent seven years before that in sports broadcasting, media relations and sponsorship sales for minor-league baseball, basketball and hockey teams in the Midwest.

He also has been a radio sports reporter and has experience broadcasting play-by-play at all levels of competition.

“We are excited to have Ed on the Drury athletics team,” Drury Director of Athletics Mark Fisher said in a news release. “His deep experience and familiarity with Drury will be great assets for all of our teams, coaches and student-athletes.”

The move also marks something of a return to his roots. Beach graduated from Drury in 1992 with bachelor’s degrees in communication and English, then earned a master’s degree in communication from Drury in 2005.

“I’m honored and humbled by this opportunity,” Beach said. “I grew up on this campus watching Drury teams compete, and this institution prepared me for the professional world as I earned college degrees here.

“My predecessors in this role established a high standard of excellence and I’m looking forward to the challenge of maintaining and building on what they accomplished.”

Beach made his broadcast debut at age 17 and made his professional sports broadcast debut at age 23. His career included stints with minor-league affiliates of the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays.

While at Evangel, Beach handled all play-by-play duties for Evangel football, plus men’s and women’s basketball games. In addition, he oversaw marketing budgets, all printed and online content and developed promotional partnerships. He also negotiated the school’s first-ever broadcast agreement.